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Trading between Russia and EU/Turkey/Israel

S

Serni

New member
May 30, 2018
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#1
Hello,
I am looking for some solution to continue my business activity between Russia/EU/Turkey/Israel.
As far as I understand, the money transfers nowadays are possible between Russia and Serbia/Hungary/mainland China/some -stan countries and UAE in some cases.
What is the best possible solution with the minimum substance fees and minimum taxes, how do you think? I am Israeli citizen.
Any advises/contacts will be mostly appreciated.
Thank you.
 
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#2
I wouldn't include Hungary in that list. While Orban dances to Putin's pipe, he also dances to the EU's pipe. You wouldn't think so by looking at him, but he does a lot of dancing.

If you stay clear of most western nations and western currencies, banking to/from Russia isn't nearly as difficult as western powers wishes it were.

UAE is tightening to appease western powers and remove itself from gray lists.

China is just a pain to deal with. India is another avenue but it's about as migraine inducing as China.

Serbia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and UAE are probably the main winners for international trade involving Russia. All have pretty good banking networks, relatively manageable bureaucracy (with local fixers/lawyers), and reasonable access to second and third tier currencies (non-western currencies) you can use for trade.

Of the three, UAE is in a class of its own above the rest. You're looking at just a few tens of thousands of USD worth to set up company, get residence permit, and some junior staff in UAE to satisfy substance requirements. An ongoing cost/problem is going to be currency. Unless you want RUB, you're probably going to be mainly transacting in AED. AED is a fine currency, pegged to the USD, and easy to buy and sell.

However, UAE is tightening a lot and their banks are under extra scrutiny by their correspondents. Converting AED that has questionable origins to USD or EUR is more difficult than before. You may end up amassing wealth in AED. You can convert it to USDT or other crypto, though, and if you want fiat in the end, I'm sure you can find ways to turn the crypto into USD, EUR, ILS, or whatever currency you want.
 
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#3
Sols said:
Of the three, UAE is in a class of its own above the rest. You're looking at just a few tens of thousands of USD worth to set up company, get residence permit, and some junior staff in UAE to satisfy substance requirements. An ongoing cost/problem is going to be currency. Unless you want RUB, you're probably going to be mainly transacting in AED. AED is a fine currency, pegged to the USD, and easy to buy and sell.

However, UAE is tightening a lot and their banks are under extra scrutiny by their correspondents. Converting AED that has questionable origins to USD or EUR is more difficult than before. You may end up amassing wealth in AED. You can convert it to USDT or other crypto, though, and if you want fiat in the end, I'm sure you can find ways to turn the crypto into USD, EUR, ILS, or whatever currency you want.
Click to expand...
UAE is definitely a last possible resort for me, the transfers to and from Russia are getting worse and worse everyday, so I am looking for some alternative routes with minimum currency exchange (nobody needs AED outside of UAE) and substance costs.
So I want to explore some other options, Serbia looks most promising as far as I see after your post.
Thank you for the detailed answer though.
 
#4
Serni said:
(nobody needs AED outside of UAE)
Click to expand...
If you think AED is useless, just wait until you see RSD, KZT, and TRY. At least people in UAE want AED and are willing to trade USD/EUR for it. It can be hard to find people in Serbia, Kazakhstan, and Turkey that want RSD, KZT, and TRY.

Serbia's EUR reserves are subject to EU regulations. It's true some amounts of money flow there which violate EU sanctions but it's risky. At some point, the ECB's patience with Serbia may run out.
 
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#9
Dictator said:
Impossible.
"the transfers to and from Russia are getting worse and worse everyday," is an emotional rather than a factually-based statement. It can't possibly be true.
Click to expand...
Sometimes people use terms in a hyperbolic manner, not meant to be taken literally. I don't think transfers to and from Russia are worse today than they were yesterday, but the over all trend in UAE is that banks are tightening controls a bit.

But maybe you have personal experience with Russia-UAE bank transfers? If so, would be great if you could share that and maybe some specifics about which banks and currencies you have used to transfer between Russia and UAE.

Dictator said:
How is this possible with "worse day by day" - «Тинькофф» запустил международные переводы в Бразилию ?
Click to expand...
What's Russian for UAE so I can Ctrl+F and find it mentioned in that article?
 
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#13
Dictator said:
How is this possible with "worse day by day" - «Тинькофф» запустил международные переводы в Бразилию ?
Click to expand...
I don't understand if you are trying to troll me or you are just incompetent.
The transfers between Russia and Turkey are getting worse every month, for example
Проблемы в расчетах России и Турции связаны с новыми правилами Минфина США
And I deal with it daily basis. Nobody really cares about Brazil in Russia.
For now you can transfer money to and from Turkey with no problems only for the textile and food products.
UAE is getting worse also. Kazakhstan stopped transit activities, Uzbekistan is also problematic.
But I don't have enough time to argue with you, I have a business to run and I am just asking for an advise here.
What is going on in this sphere in Russia is how they tell in Russian "one step forward, 2 steps back".
Brazil, hah.
 
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#14
Serni said:
Hello,
I am looking for some solution to continue my business activity between Russia/EU/Turkey/Israel.
As far as I understand, the money transfers nowadays are possible between Russia and Serbia/Hungary/mainland China/some -stan countries and UAE in some cases.
What is the best possible solution with the minimum substance fees and minimum taxes, how do you think? I am Israeli citizen.
Any advises/contacts will be mostly appreciated.
Thank you.
Click to expand...

Serbia is a good option but its not cheap at all as you need to establish a local company with local director and accountant (pay them monthly salary) in order for banks to approve your account.
We have a representative office in Serbia and have experience with several clients that were interested in the same set up.
In addition, if you plan to send funds from Serbia to Israeli bank there will be endless questions asked so you should be very organized will all the supporting documents.
In any case feel free to get in touch, we have several offices including Israel and Serbia
 
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#20
There is now service providers that offer mirroring services, you pay internally within Russia and they send you internally within EU etc.
Goes both ways, takes couple minutes, fee is similair to fx rate spreads at banks so around 3-5%
 
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